{"id":8535,"date":"2025-01-17T11:27:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T11:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/?p=8535"},"modified":"2025-01-30T11:20:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T11:20:04","slug":"match-report-ukc-staff-vs-tandoor-mahal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/match-report-ukc-staff-vs-tandoor-mahal\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Report: UKC Staff vs Tandoor Mahal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Match Report: University of Kent Staff FC 3 \u2013 1 Tandoor Mahal<\/strong>
\nFriday, 10th January 2025, 7:00 PM KO<\/i><\/p>\n

The freezing temperature did not hamper the University team\u2019s enthusiasm for a match of football. On Friday 10th January, Kent faced the fierce Tandoor Mahal, both teams coming off narrow 4-3 victories in their previous Cup fixtures and keen to build on the momentum. Although on home ground, the support was sparse as only a trio of ultras got the memo \u20142 Alans and 1 Arek\u2014cheering from the sidelines. The University\u2019s starting lineup was solid: Rob in goal, Linus and G commanding the central defense, John on the right flank, and Tim on the left. The midfield featured James Budge and James Blackwell, while Billy and Lee led the attack, flanked by James Thompson on the right wing and Harry on the left.<\/p>\n

Despite his claimed inexperience, Rob did a solid first half, very much like the defensive line. Tim impressed with his energetic runs down the left wing, adding a spark to the team\u2019s attack. Both sides created few chances to break the deadlock, with a couple of notable close offside calls, including an offside goal, for Tandoor Mahal. The half-time whistle was blown before either team could find the back of the net.\u00a0 0-0 at half time, all to play for!<\/p>\n

The second half started with high intensity, both teams determined to draw first blood. With Tandoor Mahal\u2019s defensive line higher on the pitch, opportunities for through balls and crosses into the box started to multiply. Harry\u2019s relentless work on the right wing, combined with the dribbling abilities of Budge, Blackwell and Radford and promising link-ups at pace between substitutes Morrow and El Juli Camard, began to tilt the game in Kent\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough came at the hour mark. A corner taken by Harry found G in the perfect spot as he stretched out a leg to steer the ball into the net. 1-0! The match resumed with the determination to score again and extinguish for good the opponent\u2019s dreams of a comeback. After a half-intentional dribbling sequence on the goal\u2019s left, Camard delivered a blind low cross across the goal line. The pass reached Budge, unmarked, who clinically tapped the ball into the empty goal to double the lead.
\nShortly after, G delivered an excellent ball from the right flank to Harry drawing two defenders and the goalkeeper out of position. One defender managed a touch on it but the ball was left onto Budge\u2019s path who placed it into the bottom right corner to score his second goal of the night and make it 3-0!<\/p>\n

Taking advantage of the space left by a stretched home team, and despite Tom\u2019s great defensive effort to close the angle, Tandoor Mahal managed to get one goal back, nestling a wonderful clinical shot under the crossbar to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n

As the final whistle blew, players from both teams shook hands in recognition of a competitive but fair match filled with exciting football. The 3-1 victory secured the University of Kent\u2019s position as league leaders with two wins and six points.
\nNext up, the University team faces New Dads United on February 5th in what promises to be another exciting contest!<\/p>\n

Final Score:<\/strong>
\nUniversity of Kent Staff FC 3 (Reyes Pascual, Budge x2)
\nTandoor Mahal 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match Report: University of Kent Staff FC 3 \u2013 1 Tandoor Mahal Friday, 10th January 2025, 7:00 PM KO The freezing temperature did not hamper … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84034,"featured_media":8536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[149511,722],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8559,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535\/revisions\/8559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}